Running head: HISTORY OF COMIC BOOKS 1

History of Comic Books

Student’s Name

Institution of Learning
HISTORY OF COMIC BOOKS 2

History of Comic Books

Thesis: History of comic books can be divided into five stages of formation.
Purpose: To inform the audience of the five stages of formation and development of comic
books.

INTRODUCTION
I. What do you know about the origin and the beginnings of comic books?
A. The first comics appeared in 1895 in the New York World, and it introduced the
character Yellow Kid (Petty, 2006).
B. First comics were made in a form of strips and gave rise to the real comic books.
II. The development of comic books can be divided into five stages (Petty, 2006).
A. The Golden age occurs first.
B. Then it appears the Atomic age.
C. The Silver age occurs third.
D. The Bronze age occurs fourth.
E. The last stage is the Modern age.
[Let’s talk about the main events of these five ages of comic books.]
BODY
I. The Golden age occurs first (1938-1949).
A. The Golden age is the period when the first real comic book was published in
1933.
1. The first comic book was called Funnies on Parade.
2. The beginning of the Golden age started with the publication of Action
Comics in 1938 (Thecomicbooks.com, 2015).
a. The hero of the first comic book was Superman.
b. The next hero was Batman, and he appeared in 1939
(Thecomicbooks.com, 2015).
B. The first heroes of comic books were superheroes.
1. The next comic book appeared in 1939, and it was Marvel Comics
(Thecomicbooks.com, 2015).
a. The heroes were Prince Namor, X-man, the Angel, etc.
b. In 1941, the Wonder Woman appeared, and it was the first female
character.
[The Golden age finished after the Second World War when Captain Marvel and Plastic Man
were cancelled (Randomhistorycom, 2008).]
II. The Atomic age occurs second (1949-1956).
A. The trends of this age were horror and science fiction movies.
1. William Gaines, the publishing magnate, published the first comic book of
this genre.
a. These comics were called Crime Patrol and War Against Crime (Petty,
2006).
b. The science fiction books were Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and
Incredible Science Fiction (Petty 2006).
2. However, the publishers created their personal Comics Code.
HISTORY OF COMIC BOOKS 3

a. They banned horror and terror, as well as vampires, zombies, and other
supernatural creatures.
b. The new comics, such as Mad or Psychoanalysis, appeared in 1955 but
they did not last long.
[The Atomic age of horror comics transferred into the Silver age.]
III. The Silver age comes next (1956 - 1971).
A. The beginner of this age was Julius Schwartz (Petty 2006).
1. His aim was to return the superheroes back.
a. He reintroduced such heroes as the Sultan of Speed, the Flash, the
Atom, etc. (Petty 2006).
b. Stan Lee produced The Fantastic Four in 1961 (Petty 2006).
2. Some of the comic books were about super villains.
a. For example, Dr. Doom or The Joker (Thecomicbooks.com, 2015).
[With the end of the Silver age, the Bronze age appeared].
IV. The Bronze age comes fourth (1971 - 1980).
A. This age is known for the new designs and colors of the comic books.
1. Another type of hero appeared – Conan the Barbarian (Thecomicbooks.com,
2015).
2. Marvel broke the rules and mentioned drug abuse in the Amazing Spiderman
(Petty, 2006).
B. The Academy of Comic-Book Arts appeared in this period
(Randomhistory.com, 2008).
[The Bronze age did not last long and was changed with the Modern age.]
V. The Modern age occurs fifth (1980 - present).
A. This age represents three important figures of comic industry – Jackson (Los
Tejanos, Comanche Moon), Spiegelman (Maus: A Survivor’s Tale), and Pekar
(American Splendor) (Witek, 1989).
1. Speigelman’s Maus won a Pulitzer Prize Award in 1992 (Petty, 2006).
B. The Modern age of comic books is still alive, and it is developed as a separate
kind of art.
CONCLUSION
I. The history of comic books can be divided into five stages.
A. The Golden age occurs first.
B. Then it appears the Atomic age.
C. The Silver age occurs third.
D. The Bronze age occurs fourth.
E. The last stage is the Modern age.
II. By knowing these five stages, the audience could better comprehend the formation
and development of comic books and be aware of different genres.

REFERENCES
Petty, J. (2006). A Brief history of comic books. HeritageActions.com. Retrieved from
http://www1.heritagestatic.com/comics/d/history-of-comics.pdf
Randomhistory.com. (2008). A History of the comic book. Retrieved 15 July 2015, from
http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html
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Thecomicbooks.com. (2015). TheComicBooks.com - The history of comic books. Retrieved from

http://www.thecomicbooks.com/old/Hist1.html
Witek, J. (1989). Comic books as history. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.